MnGCA

roylake · Geocacher Joined: 11 Dec 2007 Posts: 55

The Red/Red Lake Rivers are on the rise. In Grand Forks/East Grand Forks the Red is just about at 28 feet (almost out of the banks). I have disabled all of my caches in the Greenway and will be retrieving them this week. I would recommend that all caches in the Greenway flood zone be temporally disabled and pulled this week. The river will be rising fast this spring. If anyone needs help pulling their caches, let me know. I'll be pulling mine starting tonight. If anyone wants to disable their cache and is unable to retrieve it (in the Grand Forks area), let me know and I will pull it for you and then put it back out when things dry out.

To temporally disable your cache all you need to do is go to your cache listing page and select “disable listing”. I just put a short note on mine “Due to the Red River approaching flood stage I am pulling this cache. Once the river is back in its banks and the ground is dry I will put it back out (May or June).”

Let's hope for a short flood season.

The Hipster · Geocacher Joined: 06 Oct 2008 Posts: 259

I've 4 caches that I temporarily disabled today, residing in the flooding Red River Corridor: Little Joe, Well I'll Be Spruced!, 7th Ave N Entrance & Red River Remains.

"I am pulling this cache due to the Red River approaching flood stage. Once the river is back in its banks and the ground is dry I will put it back out. The Hipster"

roylake · Geocacher Joined: 11 Dec 2007 Posts: 55

The current level of the Red River at East Grand Forks is 28.64 which is just over the banks. It is projected to raise 10 more feet by Tuesday evening.

Arcticabn · Posted: Mon Mar 15, 2010 2:57 pm Post subject:

Guys don't do anything stupid like get caught out in the woods when one of the levys breaks. None of your caches are worth you risking your lives to recover them.
_________________
Airborne All the Way!

roylake · Geocacher Joined: 11 Dec 2007 Posts: 55

I retrieved 7 of my caches in the greenway flood zone after work yesterday. Good thing I did since the river went up 6.5 feet overnight and today several of them would be underwater. I attempted to retrieve one of my fellow cachers caches, but I didn’t bring a boat with me.

If anyone is going to retrieve their caches from the greenway use caution. The river is flowing fast and the ground is slippery. I did a quick check on GC.COM and it appears that none of the caches in danger of flooding have any TB’s or Geocoins. Don’t take any unnecessary risks and put your personal safety in danger, it’s not worth it. If anyone has a cache that floats away let me know. I would be willing to handout some of my extra decons and ammo cans for replacements.

roylake · Geocacher Joined: 11 Dec 2007 Posts: 55

The Cities of Grand Forks and East Grand Forks have closed the Greenway due to the flooding. This includes Riverside Park, Lincoln Drive Park and the dog park. Residents are advised to stay off the Greenway trails for their own safety.

uffda320 · Posted: Tue Mar 16, 2010 6:36 pm Post subject:

Maybe you can have some of our geocaching friends in Manitoba retrieve the caches that haven't been retrieved yet.

Good luck, guys...stay safe...stay dry.

The Hipster · Geocacher Joined: 06 Oct 2008 Posts: 259

roylake · Geocacher Joined: 11 Dec 2007 Posts: 55

Someday I’ll come up with that perfect flood proof cache. Regular Cache Icon

I had a metal match case tied to a tree that spent at least 3 weeks under the water in last year’s flood. When the water level went down I found it buried in mud, but still attached to the tree. After washing the mud off I opened it up and it was full of water. So much for being a waterproof match case, at least it was tight enough to keep the dirt out. The water that came out was perfectly clear. If you’ve seen the murky Red River water you know that was an amazing feat. The log was on waterproof paper and was still readable. I look forward to (in a couple of years) hearing about the farmer near the river that finds an ammo can in his field full of assorted cache loot. Very Happy

uffda320 · Posted: Wed Mar 17, 2010 5:42 pm Post subject:

That would be kind of cool. Place a cache right before the flood and see where it ends up. Kinda like placing a note in a bottle and throwing it out to sea.

roylake · Geocacher Joined: 11 Dec 2007 Posts: 55

The Red River is almost back in its banks and the Grand Forks/East Grand Forks Greenway has been officially opened. I am getting most of my caches back out this week. The ground closer to the river is still quite muddy and there is plenty of debris so watch your step.

The Hipster · Geocacher Joined: 06 Oct 2008 Posts: 259

I've re-enabled '7th Ave North Entrance'. I'll put back out 'Well I'll Be Spruced' in the next day or so if it is not too muddy in the lower regions of Riverside Park. 'Little Joe' will be permanently archived & replaced nearby with a whole new cache. I am pretty sure that it will still be too muddy to get anywhere near 'Red River Remains' for some time yet.

Back at Gilby I've some cache maintenance to do as well. 'Hip's Home Town' has been muggled as has 'Out in the Boondocks'. Oh yeah ... I think 'Whirrrly' needs drying out.

A couple of my nano's (one in Grand Forks & one in Barnesville) need new logs & nothing has been heard from my cache near Halstad for some time. Cache maintenance is most definitely a major spring activity & of course a year round event as well.